


summertime sadness

by scatteringmyashes



Series: feels like summer [4]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Percy Jackson Fusion, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Trans Dedue Molinaro, Trans Dimitri Blaiddyd, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:21:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22904638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scatteringmyashes/pseuds/scatteringmyashes
Summary: Dedue finds Dimitri sitting on the banks of the river.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Dedue Molinaro
Series: feels like summer [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1646359
Comments: 7
Kudos: 70





	summertime sadness

**Author's Note:**

> I.... have a lot of Dimidue brainworms and this one just happened to get written quickly and easily. 
> 
> Despite what you may think, I have no intention of naming everything in this series after a song with he word 'summer' in it... but we'll see xD
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Sometimes, Dedue feels the urge to go on a walk. It’s not always at a convenient time of day. He doesn’t like breaking curfew. The harpies haven’t eaten a camper in years and years, but they still will if they catch you out of your cabin at night and you can’t run back to the camp in time. Beyond that, Byleth has very few emotions but their disappointed face is one that Dedue’s only seen once and he never wants to see it again.

But sometimes Dedue knows he needs to go on a walk, as if a god had actually come down from Olympus and whispered in his ear. 

He glances at his siblings. All of them are asleep. 

Dedue stares at the bunk above his. As the cabin leader, he could have a top bunk. As someone who broke six feet tall back in middle school, he really can’t. 

The Demeter cabin smells like spring, like fresh cut grass and fruit ripe on the branch and endless fields of wheat. The ceiling is faintly tinted glass, vines grow up the walls, and there’s planter boxes for each camper to maintain a small, personal garden. It’s home. It has been for years and years.

Suddenly, it feels too small — claustrophobia hits Dedue and he throws his blankets back. He grabs the closest pair of shoes — hiking boots — and just tucks his pajama pants into them. If anyone asks, he’ll say that he has to pee. That’s what he’s thinking as he leaves his cabin. 

It’s a warm summer night. His first instinct is to go to the lake and listen to the waves, but something tells him that he won’t find peace there. Dedue shivers and not because of the weather. He doesn’t fight it as his feet take him towards the forest. There’s monsters stocked there but he’s good at magic and young enough to feel a bit immortal. Only a bit, no more than the usual teenager.

Dedue finds Dimitri sitting on the banks of the river. Dimitri looks up when he hears Dedue, relaxes when he recognizes his friend. Maybe Dedue should feel embarrassed in a loose tank top and baby blue cotton pants, but Dimitri is wearing a ratty Camp Half-Blood T-Shirt and gym shorts. They’d make one of the Aphrodite kids have a heart attack on sight. 

“May I sit with you?” Dedue asks. Dimitri nods. As soon as Dedue has settled, Dimitri leans against him. It’s hard to tell if he was crying. It’s too dark for one, and Dimitri is too good at hiding it for another. 

The crickets chirp. The river bubbles. A few birds fly through the darkness. Dedue is looking at the water with what moonlight pierces the tree branches but his focus is on Dimitri. He’s warm. As always, he carries the faint smell of ozone. Underneath that is a hint of vanilla from his shampoo. Dedue can tell when Dimitri is especially stressed because then he’ll also smell like strawberry. 

A few summers ago, Dimitri confessed that he thought Dedue smelled like fruit — particularly the strawberries that he helped tend. Dedue bought him a strawberry-scented lotion. It’s rare that they’re separated, but it does happen. Besides, Dedue learnt a long time ago that Dimitri doesn’t always ask for help when he needs it. Anything he can provide Dimitri to make him a little more comfortable… Well, Demeter has associations with nurturing.

“How did you know I was here?” Dimitri asks. 

“I did not. It was a guess.” Dedue gently places an arm around Dimitri’s shoulders. Dimitri buries his face in the crook of Dedue’s shoulder. He breathes in deep, fists curling into the dirt. “Do you wish to talk about it?” 

Dimitri shakes his head. Dedue can respect that. He doesn’t know everything that torments Dimitri, but he knows enough. Being the son of Zeus is difficult. It may have perks, such as respect or being able to request a body that matches his mind and soul, but there are many burdens that come with being a child of the Big Three. Dedue is very happy that his mother is colloquially known as the goddess of cereal. 

“Do you ever think about leaving?” Dimitri asks. Dedue tilts his head so he may look down at Dimitri. His hair is getting long, bangs falling in Dimitri’s eyes. Dedue makes a note to ask Annette about cutting it before the week is up. “Not on a quest or for something, just… leaving.”

“To visit someone?” Dedue questions, though he doesn’t know who Dimitri would visit who doesn’t already go to camp. His father? 

“No,” Dimitri clarified. “Just.. Not being here.” He shifts so that he is still close to Dedue, their shoulders pressed together, but now he’s supporting his own weight. Dedue’s arm falls back to his side. Dimitri’s blue eyes resemble storm clouds. “Away from all of this.”

It’s impossible. Even with their training, Dimitri would be a target for every monster on the continent and Dimitri’s not immortal. It would only be a matter of time before he was killed or ran back to camp.

There’s not many demigods who make it past twelve without training. There’s no children of the Big Three who live outside Camp Half-Blood for a reason. Hades, even getting here was… difficult. 

Dedue doesn’t mention any of this.

“Would you go alone?” He says instead. Dimitri shakes his head. 

“I always imagine you would be there with me,” he confesses. Dedue reaches out and takes one of Dimitri’s hands in his. The other hand conjures a small flower — a white baby bell. The stem slides perfectly behind Dimitri’s ear. “It’s silly, I know. We never could. We’d be back within a week. But…”

“It is a nice dream,” Dedue agrees. 

“Yeah.” 

The crickets chirp. The river bubbles. 

“Dimitri, if you go—”

“I would not go anywhere without you,” Dimitri says. He isn’t looking Dedue in the eyes. 

Dedue swallows. “Swear it.” The forest seems to chill for a moment, as if the world forgot it was summer. 

Dimitri chuckles humorlessly. “It’s not really going to happen, Dedue. Don’t take the ravings of a mad man that seriously.”

There’s never been a universe where Dedue considers Dimitri mad, but he knows that Dimitri’s trying to distract him. Perhaps, if they did not know each other so well, it would work.

“Swear that you will not leave without at least telling me. Swear on the River Styx.” Dedue can barely believe his own words, but Dimitri looks unsurprised. 

“I swear that I will never leave without telling you.” Dimitri sits up. He slowly leans close to Dedue until, finally, their lips are touching. Dimitri’s hands are covered in dirt but Dedue doesn’t mind, especially not when Dimitri tightens his grasp on Dedue’s shirt and deepens the kiss. 

Dedue is content to sit there, Dimitri in his arms, softly kissing in the forest, when he hears something rip. He pulls back, peering into the darkness and half expecting to see someone or something coming out to attack. Dimitri buries his face in his hands.

“I am so sorry,” he says, which is when Dedue realizes two things.

First, he isn’t wearing his binder — or anything — under his tank top. Second, his tank top is now ripped in the front. The hole is big enough that he’s probably securely in the _indecent_ category and Dimitri is apologizing over and over again. He’s so red that the tips of his ears shine like a Christmas character’s appendage. 

Dedue laughs. “It’s okay.” He kisses the top of Dimitri’s head, as there’s nowhere else within easy kissing range. “Though I may need to sneak back to camp. More than I already would have to do.”

That draws a laugh out of Dimitri.

“Here.” He takes his hands away from his face long enough to pull his shirt off his head. He hands it to Dedue — it’ll be a tight fit at the very least, but a few broken seams are definitely better than what Dedue has going on right now. Dedue takes his destroyed shirt and throws it over a shoulder. Nature goddess mother aside, littering in camp is the best way to get mud and bugs in your bunk. 

Though they go swimming often enough, Dedue can’t help but marvel a little at how natural Dimitri’s body looks, then berates himself for thinking that as he squeezes into Dimitri’s shirt. This _is_ Dimitri’s body, divine intervention or not. 

Despite common belief, Dedue holds no jealousy over Dimitri’s magical transformation — pun not intended, thank you very much — and is just happy that Dimitri’s able to be a bit more at peace with himself than he used to be. Now, if only Zeus had also balanced the chemicals in Dimitri’s head…

“How do I look?” Dedue asks, spreading his arms as wide as they can go. 

He’s lucky Dimitri likes baggy clothes, because that’s the only way this even partially works. It’s a crop top on Dedue, his chest is compressed uncomfortably, but it’ll work. Hopefully no one will even see. 

“Handsome as ever, my love,” Dimitri replies. He’s so earnest that it takes Dedue’s breath away. “I apologize about your shirt, though. I’ll buy you a new one.” It’s not the first time Dimitri has broken something with his strength and Dedue doubts it’ll be the last. Dedue is tactful enough to not bring this up, however, and just smiles. 

“Do you want to sit longer, or do you want to go back to sleep?” His company is silently offered in either situation. Dedue’s not bold enough to stay the night with Dimitri — there’s a few rules that get bent by every camper, but actually sleeping in a different cabin than your assigned one? Absolutely unheard of — but he can at least walk back to the cabins with him. 

Dimitri considers it. 

“Stay with me?” He asks. 

“Of course.” 

Sometimes, Dedue hates the gods. It is easy to blame them for everything that has happened, everything that will happen. But sometimes he thinks that there’s good, too, that comes from it all. Something to brighten the world when it seems dark and lonely. 

He doesn’t know for certain, but he thinks Dimitri feels the same.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr [here](http://disasterfelixfraldarius.tumblr.com/) or [Twitter.](https://twitter.com/ashes8012)


End file.
